Damn it, it happened again.
Every time I see that damnable chicken, this happens. I suppose living near a cockatrice who actually is married, yet gives off pheromones like she’s single will do that, though. I wasn’t actually sure what they did with their time, but my guess is she’s training for a marathon or something.
All right, let’s see where I ended up this time.
Looking around, I groaned in annoyance. Usually she catches on pretty quickly and petrifies me not far from my house, but it looks like she led me on quite a chase this time: I don’t even know where I ended up.
As I pondered the situation, a noise from behind me drew my attention: a mamono of some kind, a dryad, I’m pretty sure, was watching me from a tree she was clinging to. She hadn’t said anything yet, but I had the feeling she was trying to figure out if I was a threat.
“Miss!” I called out to her “Would you happen to know where we are? I seem to be a little lost.” I commented, rubbing the back of my head awkwardly as she continued to survey me.
“Where? Why, we’re in the forest, of course!” she commented, seeming amused by my ignorance. “What else do you need to know?”
It didn’t make much sense to me, but clearly, it made perfect sense to the dryad in front of me. “Did you happen to see what direction I came from?” I then asked her, trying to figure out how to backtrack.
“Oh?” She asked “First, I must know: why did you continue to chase that poor girl so far? It was clear she wasn’t interested, and her scent made it clear she was married…”
“Who, the cockatrice?” I clarified. “I don’t really know. Every time she passes me, I feel compelled to chase her, like my brain isn’t my own at that point, and I just end up someplace else, encased in stone. She’s my neighbour, and I still don’t understand this whole pheromone thing in detail, so it’s confusing to me.”
“Ah, I see.” She responded, look of concern become a slight smile “So you don’t even know why you were chasing her? She must still give off her alluring pheromones. Odd, but that explains you.” She commented, before pointing off in one direction. “You came from that way when you were chasing her, though.” She then told me, before adding, “You may wish to hurry, I think the others know you’re here.”
Well, that’s rather vague, isn’t it?
Thanking her, I started off in the direction she pointed to, moving fairly quickly through the woods, not even really remembering clearing all the obstacles I found in my path, but certain she wouldn’t have lied to me for some reason. However, all it seemed to lead to was more woods, strange noises causing me to look from side to side almost constantly.
Which was why I didn’t see her right ahead of me.
Walking into a large, bulbous plant I hadn’t seen in front of me, I recoiled back on impact and groaned in irritation, already-sore body now having pain in my head to deal with. “Damn it…” I muttered to myself, before I realized I wasn’t alone.
“Well, that’s rude.” A voice commented “Running headlong into someone’s home like that. You didn’t break anything, did you?”
Looking from myself to the plant, I felt a sharp twinge in my head, but responded “I don’t think so. It was a relatively flat section from the looks of things, and my head isn’t hard enough to hurt the plant, from the look of things, so I think we’re both fine.”
It actually took me a moment to see the source of the voice: an alraune, inside the large plant in front of me. “Well, good. Then I don’t have to throw you to the wolves, as it were.” She commented, before looking me over. “You’re that guy I watched chasing a cockatrice earlier, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, that’s me…” I responded, now rubbing my pained forehead.
“Did, by chance, a dryad point you here? A little shorter tree, but breasts the size of your head?” she then asked, sounding curious, now with a mischievous smirk on her face.
“Yeah, why? She pointed me the way I came, and if you saw me chasing the cockatrice, then she must have been right.” I observed, now wondering why her smile widened.
“That sweet girl…” she mused a moment, before looking down at me again “…she’s married herself, you see. It wasn’t plain from looking at her, but her husband was with her. If she pointed you this way, then that means she knew I could help you with your problem.”
“Oh? What do you mean?” I asked curiously. Could this alraune help me get home? I didn’t really know where home was from here, but I was certain it was far, and I’m not sure if alraunes could actually move around.
“Well, it’s easy.” She giggled, now suddenly coiling me in vines around my arms and legs, picking me up and dropping me into her plant with her, where the opening suddenly closed, leaving me trapped in a dark, wet plant with my captor. “You need love, and I’m lonely. So now, both problems are solved!” the plant girl declared, planting her lips onto mine.
Plant matchmaking? Not the way I expected chasing her to turn out…